Almost all American teenagers are members of online social networks and actively communicate with their peers on the Internet. The problem of computer literacy simply does not exist in the United States. It is not surprising that
hundreds of web-based tools have appeared specifically for students and schoolchildren .
OrganizersOnline organizers for students (
Stu.dicio.us ) or teachers (
Chalksite ,
Engrade ) help to maintain class schedules and to-do lists, keep track of progress, store training files, and publish notes for all to see. Programs involve collective use, so that can be used to build social networks. For example, the system
Stu.dicio.us will soon be integrated into the social network
Facebook .
The collective organizers can also include the powerful wiki platform
JotSpot , which we have already
described in detail.Cool magazinesThe possibility of keeping a class journal with grades is built into many of the teacher organizers listed above. But there are special programs, such as
Teacher! .
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Online communication, managementPrograms of this type are used for online communication, team management, joint discussion of news and events. In principle, such services can be called group organizers with elements of social networks. For example, the
Groupvine program
is great for communication with teachers from the department or students from the same group. A similar system
Nuuvo also provides distance learning opportunities: teachers here can post courses of their lectures, and anyone can register and take a course (for free or for money).
MathsSpecial mathematical tools to help students and schoolchildren. For example,
Calcoolate and
Calcr online calculators support expressions, math functions, and computation history. You can find an online graphing program called
Create a Graph .
Research and trainingThis section lists a variety of tools to help students. For example, unpretentious programs for making a list of references, which must be attached to any essay or coursework, are very popular.
When writing scientific papers, the sites of the world's largest reference resource
Wikipedia , which contains absolutely superficial information on any topic, are useful. It is worth mentioning the help website
Answers.com , social information services
Del.icio.us and
Newsvine .
Media sharingFor the exchange of photo and video materials between students and teachers, well-known
YouTube ,
Google Video ,
Flickr services, as well as the online video editor
Eyespot , which allows online editing of video clips from individual video clips and photos, are excellent for everyone.